Nothing
by Looka'sMagicHell
Summary: And as they lay there, gazing up at the stars, she finally said, tonelessly, "I feel nothing." DXS oneshot.


**Author's Note:**

Huh... who would've thought I'd actually stick with writing two oneshots in a month... WOO! Personal record for me - at least recently xD. Okay, back to the fic. So, this is the first time I'd ever written something like this - in the genre of hurt and comfort, I mean. I always wanted to write one but the right idea just never came to me. This one though popped up like a long time ago - in fact, it was the fact of wanting to publish this is what got me inspired to keep writing DP stories again. Granted, it is very short, but still, the idea is still there.

Anyway, I won't keep you busy with my ramblings. Enjoy!

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**Nothing.  
**

As she lay there on the pavement in the middle of the road, the moon and the stars illuminating the blackness of the asphalt around her, all she could think of was how hard she'd have to wash her hair because of all the dirt that had gotten into it.

It was a foggy November night, and the air smelled of crisp pine trees and Amity Park's distinguishable signature smell of ectoplasm. Even though she was wearing jeans, her trademark combat boots, a thermal shirt and a leather jacket, Samantha Manson felt the cold seeping into her skin. Instead of making her shiver and want to move, it made her think of the irony – how she felt numb on the inside and on the outside as well. An icicle inside and out, like an abandoned snowman in the process of melting.

She didn't remember getting there. She didn't remember when she stopped crying; when she decided to leave the Manson mansion and seek the comfort of the cold night instead of her empty home. All she knew was that one minute the monitor was beeping, signaling the end of _her_ life, and then it started getting fuzzy. She just knew that a horrible pain had spread through her, like venom spreading through her blood after a snake bite. She knew she couldn't stop crying because she remembered how hot the tears felt against her frozen skin and how red and bloodshot her eyes had looked. And then, there she was: between an intersection on Amity Park's deserted roads, where it was too late to drive unless you were an idiot who didn't think ghosts were real. She wasn't afraid though; she wasn't feeling anything at all.

"Sam?" she recognized the voice – it was the same voice she heard every day since long before she can remember – sweet and gentle.

She looked up, and there he was, gorgeous as ever. Danny Phantom was staring down at her in concern and confusion, his brow slightly furrowed. _Did he know how handsome he looked, the stars illuminating sparks in his emerald green eyes and how the sparkles danced on his pale skin?_ She thought.

When she didn't answer and just stared at him, he took a brief but cautionary look around and changed back into loser Danny Fenton, with not-any-less-beautiful ocean blue eyes and onyx black hair. He sat down next to her until they were both lying next to each other, staring at the inky sky. Silence filled the air, but Danny was too perplexed to break it – it wasn't every day you saw your best friend just lying there while you were out on ghost patrol.

And as they lay there, gazing up at the stars, she finally said, tonelessly, "I feel nothing."

He turned to look at her, but she was still facing the sky, the ghost of a smile on her face. "The only thing I can think of is how the stars look like they're dead. I can only see the blackness of the sky and how lonely the moon looks." She shook her head in disbelief and let out a humorless laugh. "I don't even want to kiss you right now, and I _always_ want to kiss you." Turning to him and noticing the bewildered and slightly agape expression on his face, she laughed even more. "And I don't even feel anything having just told you that, even though I normally would have been mortified." She turned back to the sky, adding, "And I don't even think it's funny but I'm laughing anyway." She wanted to continue laughing, because at least it didn't take that much effort, but the smile was evaporating off her face, replaced by a blank expression. "I feel nothing."

Danny was getting worried. And badly. "Sam," he sat up, looking worriedly down at her. "Sammy, are you okay?"

He could only watch in silence as she sat up, her face expressionless. She started getting up effortlessly while he had to stumble to get up as fast – clumsiness and all.

"God," she muttered softly, staring up at him in wonder, a twinkle in her eye. They were only inches apart now, he noticed, their noses almost touching. "I really do want to kiss you."

He could only open his mouth slightly in surprise, and so fast he couldn't react, she grabbed the collar of his shirt and pulled him down to her, capturing his lips to hers.

He froze. She didn't seem to care and continued kissing him, invading his mouth with her tongue, tangling her fingers in his hair.

And then the pain cascaded down on her like a shower of sparks; fast, bright, and blinding. She let him go and crumbled onto his chest, still holding on to his hair and shirt. "I'm sorry I'm sorry-"

Tears started streaming down her cheeks, hot and foreboding. Sobs raked her body and she convulsed forwards, a heart wrenching wail escaping her. Danny was motionless for a minute, not yet absorbing what was happening and not knowing how to respond. It was the first time he'd ever seen Sam cry, and never once in his life would he have imagined it happening. Sam was always so strong, that seeing her like this was like realizing that Santa Claus wasn't real for the first time.

"Hey, hey," finally snapping back to reality, he held her, enclosing her in the safe cocoon of his arms. He rubbed her arms, her back, and rocked her back and forth, like his mother always used to do to his when he was younger. "What happened, Sam?"

She shook her head, the clutch of her hands on his shirt and hair tightening. "She's gone, Danny."

"Sshh," he was afraid of asking more questions for fear of upsetting her furthermore, so he settled with, "it's okay, Sam; it's going to be okay."

"No it's not!" she tore away from him, stepping back and sniffing. "It's never going to be okay, Danny, don't you get that?"

She wiped her nose on the sleeve of her jacket, not caring how gross and unattractive she probably looked, and continued her rant. "Do you know how hard it is for me? Living in a world where no one likes you, when your own goddamn parents don't even accept you for who you are. I never cared about any of that because I kept thinking, 'At least I had her; at least I had my grandmother'. But I don't!" she was yelling at him when he didn't do anything wrong, but she didn't care.

Danny was shell-shocked and agape. He never thought Sam's grandmother was ever going to die – not as soon anyway. She was like a sweet spirit – always around, always laughing;_ alive_. He felt like crying too even if it wasn't his own grandmother.

_Crap_, he thought, inwardly cringing, _if I feel like this when I've only had a few words with the woman, then how does Sam feel?_

"She's gone, Danny!" the tone of her voice switched from angry to miserable. "I'm nothing without her, NOTHING!" she turned away from him to look at the empty road and allowed more tears to stream down her face. "Nobody ever loved me like she did," she said softly, her voice a mere whisper. Broken.

Before he could stop himself or think about what he was saying, he blurted, softly, "I do."

She froze, having previously been pacing and pulling on her hair in desperation. Her hand still in her hair in a half-tug, she turned to him, her eyes wide and red. "What?" she murmured softly, gazing questioningly at him.

"I-I do," he stammered, realizing it was too late for him to take it back. He titled his mouth up in a small knowing smile, and shrugged one of his shoulders. "I love you."

The only movement she made was remove her fingers from her hair, leaving it in a tangled mess, greasy from having played with it too much. She was speechless – but for once in her life, it was a nice kind of speechless.

"You..." she didn't know how to speak from the lump that formed in her throat, and, trying to discreetly clear her throat, she tried again. "Y-You love me?"

More tears were spilling from her eyes, he noticed as he walked closer to her. When he was right in front of her, he used his hand to wipe some tears from her cheek and cup it. He used his other hand to smooth down her hair. "I do," he said softly, "I love you."

She smiled softly up at him, more tears in her eyes. She lunged forward and buried her head in his neck, more tears leaking – this time, some of them where from happiness. He held on to her tight because he had a feeling the trembling in her body would cause her knees to give away.  
And then she realized something important: she wasn't nothing, not as long as Danny was there. She was going to miss her grandma, and she didn't know how she was ever going to get over something like this, but it was going to be a little bit easier than she thought, she realized. Because she loved him too. She wasn't nothing; she was everything.

"Thank you," he barely heard her whisper into his neck. He smiled slowly, rubbing her back, taking in her scent.  
He smiled, and brought her backward so he could look at her face. She was still holding onto his neck, and with his hands still on her waist, he brought her closer and kissed her. It wasn't like her kiss from earlier – hungry and mad – but rather soft, gentle, soothing. It was enough to make Sam almost forget why she was crying in the first place – almost.  
When he let her go, she looked up at him with a small, shy smile. "I was lying," she said a little breathlessly. "I really did want to kiss you."

He laughed softly, wiping a stray tear that leaked down her cheek. "Come on, Sam," he said softly, turning into Phantom, still holding on to her. "Let's get out of here."

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**A/N**: Well... What do you think? Did I pull this particular genre off or thoroughly screw it up?

Whatever I did, please review! x


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